Love at the Christmas Table
by seasidehearts
Summary: Every year Sora, Riku and Kairi attend the Christmas party held by their parents. As they grow older, Sora's feelings for Kairi start to change into something much more than just best friends. SoKai. Canon setting. Merry Christmas!


**I got this idea from a Lifetime movie by the same name as this fic that I absolutely fell in love with last year. It's coming on the 18****th ****and the 23****rd**** if you're interested; I highly suggest it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Love at the Christmas Table**

oxo  
Love at the Christmas Table  
oxo

_-Age 5-_

"Are you sure it's okay to be here?" Kairi whispered nervously, "I don't think Riku likes me very much."

"He's just jealous, he gets like that sometimes." Sora consoled her, reaching out a hand to pat her shoulder, "He was excited when we first met you, remember?"

The little girl nodded, "Yeah…"

"He's just jealous that we're really good friends." Sora folded his hands behind his head and laughed, "He'll get over it soon. Besides, this is a party for the grownups. They just drag us along, so Riku can't do anything."

"Okay." She let out a small sigh, "I guess a feel a little better."

"Hey, Sora!" They both turned their heads to see Riku coming towards them, looking at Sora with a smile. Switching to an annoyed expression, he looked over and added, "…Kairi."

"Hey!" Sora answered back excitedly.

Kairi looked down at her lap, avoiding eye contact with Riku, "Hi…"

"Do you wanna go out in the backyard and have a swordfight?" He turned back to Sora.

The brunette first jumped up eagerly, ready to say yes. After looking at Kairi, he frowned and said, "Well, I don't wanna leave Kairi by herself."

Riku rolled his eyes and began walking away, "Suit yourself."

"Wait," Kairi called out. Riku stopped in his tracks and turned around, giving her a confused look. "I may not know how to swordfight but…I can be the judge?" She suggested hopefully.

The older boy took a moment to think before turning around again, "Whatever, if you want."

Kairi flashed a small smile to Sora who gave her a high five and shouted, "Alright!" With that, they both hurried after Riku towards the backyard.

-Age 10-

"I'm bored." Riku yawned, laying on the floor with his arms stretched out, "And full. At least the food was good."

"We could play one of your games." Sora suggested with a shrug, propped against the couch, "We haven't done that in a while."

Riku lifted himself up onto his elbows and gave his friend a doubtful look, "I'm sure Kairi doesn't wanna play kiddy board games."

"I wouldn't mind playing board games." Kairi replied from up on the couch, "I mean, it's better than sitting around doing nothing, isn't it?"

"Eh," Riku let himself fall back to the floor.

Leaning over the side of the couch, Kairi made a pout and whined, "C'mon, Riku. It'll be fun!" She nudged the back of Sora's head to get him to help her.

"Ouch." Sora mumbled to himself, rubbing the spot where Kairi hit him. "Yeah, Riku, let's do it. What else do we have to do?"

Lifting himself up into a sitting position, Riku shook his head and answered, "If you two really want to, I guess I have no choice."

"You're not gonna complain the whole time, are you?" Kairi frowned and crossed her arms, " 'Cuz I don't wanna play if you're gonna be grumpy the whole time."

"I won't." He rolled his eyes and stood up, "So what games do you want me to get from upstairs?"

-Age 13-

"Got the cake." Riku walked through the doorway, balancing three plates of cake within his hands.

"Thank you!" Kairi grinned and clapped her hands together excitedly.

"Yeah, thanks, Riku." Sora added, eagerly waiting to eat the dessert.

Riku sat the plates down on the table in front of them and sat down in the very small space between Sora and Kairi, causing both of them to scoot a few more inches towards the sides of the couch. Sora gave a small glare, mouthing 'What are you doing?'

Riku just raised his eyebrows and subtly nodded his head in Kairi's direction before reaching for his piece of cake on the table. After taking a bite, he turned to Kairi and placed his hand on her leg to get her attention, saying, "It's really good! Try it."

"Okay." She nodded, reaching to the table for her own plate. Slicing a small piece off the end, she took a bite and made a humming noise. "It is really good." She agreed with a wide smile. Leaning over and looking past Riku, she looked at Sora who had been oddly quiet, "Hey, Sora, what's up? Normally you would have eaten the whole thing by now."

"Huh?" Sora looked up from the sound of his name being called. "Oh," He looked back at the cake on the table and muttered, "I guess I'm just…really full."

"O-okay…" Kairi replied, confused as to why he seemed so down all of a sudden. "Riku, do you want a drink? The icing made me thirsty."

His mouth full of cake, Riku barely managed to say, "Sure."

Standing up, she walked around to the front of the table to ask, "Sora, can you come with me?"

Sora looked at her in confusion, "What for?"

"Um… I always forget where stuff is in Riku's kitchen." She laughed nervously, wondering if that excuse was too obvious or not. Riku didn't seem to care and Sora kept the same, emotionless expression.

He stood up, "Alright."

Kairi walked through the doorway, waving at all of their parents as she walked through the dining room and into the kitchen. Once Sora and she were alone, she positioned herself inches away from his face, causing him to widen his eyes in surprise. "Something's wrong." She put her hands on her hips, waiting for his explanation to come spilling out. Sora was never good at keeping secrets.

"I just—" Sora began before sighing and taking a step back from her, "I dunno, I just feel weird."

Kairi tilted her head, backing away from his face and looking at him sympathetically, "Like you feel sick?"

He looked down at his feet, "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Aw, Sora. You don't have to stick around for us if you don't feel good." She reached around his shoulder to rub his back, "You should go home and get some rest."

He wrapped his arms around her loosely in a hug, quietly saying, "Sorry. Tell Riku I'm sorry too."

Kairi hugged him back shortly before they both let go. "Don't be sorry, I just want you to feel better."

Sora flashed a weak smile, "Hopefully I'll see you tomorrow at the dock for the sunset."

"I hope so too." She smiled back, adding, "Get well soon, Sora."

He nodded and waved, "See ya." With that, he headed out the front door.

Sighing, Kairi went to get cups out of the cupboard so she could get her and Riku's drinks. As she walked back into the living room, Riku was quick to ask, "What happened to Sora? Bathroom?"

She shook her head, "No, Sora didn't feel well so he actually ended up leaving. He told me to tell you sorry."

Riku gave a doubting look and crossed his arms, "He didn't feel good, huh?" '_More like he didn't like me flirting with Kairi. But I guess he's giving me the okay too by leaving me alone with her? Ugh, I dunno…'_ He slumped down into the couch. "Well, let's just make the best of it even though it's only the two of us."

-Age 15-

"It's weird being at this party like everything's normal. Like nothing ever happened." Sora commented, before pausing, "But at the same time, I know I feel so much older than the last time I was here."

Riku reached around Kairi to lightly shove Sora's shoulder, "You know, it doesn't help that you ditched us and left the party early at the last one."

He gave a sheepish smile and looked down, "Yeah, sorry about that again."

"It's okay," Kairi's fingers grazed over Sora's arm for a moment, "Can't help being sick, right?"

"Sick. _Right_…" Riku commented sarcastically, picking up his glass of water from the table and taking a sip.

Kairi gave Sora a confused look, waiting for him to give an explanation to Riku's comment. He glared at his older friend and hissed, "I don't know what you're talking about, _Riku._"

Riku laughed loudly, causing Sora to scowl more, "Please. It was so obvious you were making up an excuse to leave."

Kairi looked back and forth between her two friends, not sure who to believe. "But why would Sora want to leave? We always spend our Christmases together." She questioned, sounding a little bit hurt.

"I didn't want to leave. I had to." Sora quickly consoled Kairi, placing a hand on her shoulder and gritting his teeth as he continued, "I don't know what he's trying to imply."

"Hey, I'm not implying anything. I'm just telling the truth. I can leave the room and let you tell Kairi yourself if you don't want me to tell her." Riku offered, still smiling as he got up from the couch.

"Can't you just drop it?" Sora groaned, throwing his hands up in frustration.

Kairi was completely confused at this point. She raised her voice and asked in an annoyed tone, "Tell me _what, _exactly?"

"He was upset that I was flirting with you." Riku replied nonchalantly, "So he left."

"That's—" Sora clenched his fists together, wanting to deny it but he knew it was true. "I'm gonna go outside." He stood up and made his way for the back door.

"Sora…" Kairi called out his name worriedly but he kept going, closing the door forcefully behind him. She looked to Riku, clearly frustrated and confused, "What just happened?"

He sighed, "He likes you, Kairi. You really didn't know?"

She put her face in her hands, a million thoughts spinning around in her head, "I guess I did… but I thought I was just imagining it." Remaining silent for a moment, she suddenly jumped up and announced, "I have to talk to him."

"Good luck." Riku replied as she turned towards the door.

She turned back around to give a small smile before shutting the door behind her, "Thanks." As she stepped outside, Kairi was greeted with silence and a cold breeze that instinctively made her wrap her arms around herself.

It didn't take long to find Sora. He was practically curled up in a ball on the hammock with his hood over his head, his teeth chattering loudly. He'd never been a fan of cold weather.

"Why don't you come back in?" Kairi suggested.

Sora jumped up in surprise for a moment but relaxed after realizing it was Kairi, "In a minute."

She stepped closer to the hammock, "Mind if I join you, then?"

"Go ahead." He motioned her over.

Kairi carefully climbed into the hammock, tucking her hands into the pockets of her jacket before commenting, "This way we can both stay a little bit warmer."

"That's always good." He stared up at the stars in the sky.

"…So, was Riku telling the truth?" Kairi asked quietly, wasting no time.

Sora shifted and sighed, "Knew that was coming."

"I had to ask eventually." Kairi smiled sheepishly.

He looked over to her and smiled too before looking up again, "Well… Yeah, he was. I dunno why I got so mad. I guess it was just the way he was saying it."

Kairi instigated further, putting her hands up to her face to hide her amusement, "Why would you be mad that he was flirting with me, though?"

Sora turned over onto his side and eyed her suspiciously, "Okay, now I know you're teasing me."

"Sorry." She giggled into her hands.

He closed his eyes and smiled, sighing to himself, "I guess that's what I deserve since I couldn't even spit out my own feelings. My best friend had to do it for me."

"Feelings? What feelings?" Kairi put a finger to her lips in thought and blinked her eyes innocently.

"Nice try." Sora gave her an unamused stare.

"Seriously." She sat up, "I wanna hear it from you."

He sat up slowly, careful not to throw off the balance of the hammock, "Fine." Noticing that Kairi was staring at him intently, he looked down and scratched the back of his neck out of nervousness.

"So?" She pressed.

"Okay, okay…" He put his head in his hands for a second before composing himself again and looking up at Kairi, "I love you."

She smiled and closed her eyes, "I love you too." She waited for a minute before peeking at Sora, who was just staring at her.

"I'm supposed to kiss you now, huh?" He asked sheepishly.

"That's what I'm waiting for." She answered, amused, as she closed her eyes again. Closing his eyes as well, Sora leaned in to kiss her. Feeling his lips against her own, Kairi began to kiss him back and leaned in closer to him. Feeling the hammock begin to shift as she moved, she quickly pulled away, saying loudly, "Oops."

He laughed before carefully climbing out of the hammock and offering his hand to her, "We should be heading back anyway."

"Yeah, you're right." She grabbed his hand and put her other hand on his shoulder as she jumped down.

Sora held out his other arm to keep her from falling, wrapping it around her tightly once her feet were on the ground. As he leaned in to kiss her again, Kairi eagerly met him halfway. As she melted into the kiss, her hand slipped from his shoulder down to his chest. Sora pulled away, smiling, "Better?"

"Much better." She laughed, laying her head against his shoulder for a moment before intertwining her fingers with his and tugging him towards the house, "C'mon, let's go."


End file.
